- Since I'm not lying, it follows that I'm telling the truth.
- 1) We know that God exists, since the Bible says God exists. 2) What the Bible says must be true, since God wrote it and God never lies. *(Here, we must agree that God exists in order to believe that God wrote the Bible.)
- 1) Reality is limited to that which is directly perceivable through our natural senses or indirectly ascertained through the proper use of reason. 2) Truth is the degree to which a statement corresponds with reality. 3) Belief in the existence of God or souls is false.
Missing the Point
These fallacies have in common a general failure to prove that the conclusion is true.
The truth of the conclusion is assumed by the premises. Often, the conclusion is simply restated in the premises in a slightly different form. In more difficult cases, the premise is a consequence of the conclusion.
Examples:
Proof: Show that in order to believe that the premises are true we must already agree that the conclusion is true.
An argument which purports to prove one thing instead proves a different conclusion.
Examples:
- You should support the new housing bill. We can't continue to see people living in the streets; we must have cheaper housing. (We may agree that housing is important even though we disagree with the housing bill.)
- I say we should support affirmative action. White males have run the country for 500 years. They run most of government and industry today. You can't deny that this sort of discrimination is intolerable. (The author has proven that there is discrimination, but not that affirmative action will end that discrimination.)
Proof: Show that the conclusion proved by the author is not the conclusion that the author set out to prove.
The author attacks an argument which is different from, and usually weaker than, the opposition's best argument.
Examples:
- People who opposed the Charlottown Accord probably just wanted Quebec to separate. But we want Quebec to stay in Canada.
- We should have conscription. People don't want to enter the military because they find it an inconvenience. But they should realize that there are more important things than convenience.
Proof: Show that the opposition's argument has been misrepresented by showing that the opposition has a stronger argument. Describe the stronger argument.